[open] Oh the weather outside is weather

[wannasmash]

Who: Izuku "DEKU DON'T" Midoriya and YOU. Featuring a Warmblood who will, per this month's effects, influence you to be your best self... whatever that may mean.
What: Catchall log with: a snowball fight, fishing Paul out of a collapsed basement, giving mushrooms to Illarion, event things. Event plotting comment.
When: January
Where: A park. Abandoned basement. The Red.

Content Warnings: fantasy violence against a snake-shaped rock monster, panic attack, teens in danger. Mention of: being kidnapped, child abuse and/or neglect. More TBD in comments below.

Open prompts:
Snowball Fight!
Wallflower Time (Snake Den at The Red) (Event)
Taking Note (Snake Den at The Red) (Event)

Comments

[wannasmash]

This is only the second time he's encountering it, so he hasn't learned quite yet: A vague demurral, usually taken as a no where he comes from, doesn't work on people from certain cultures.

Guess he's going to school. He's put it off long enough. It's January, not too late to jump in. He can just take a class or two while balancing his work. He's done that before, though in different proportions. Midoriya has a vague understanding that the School of Mutter runs more like a local college than anything strictly abiding by education standards set by bureaucrats, so there's no pressure to graduate by a certain time.

"Thank you, but I can get my own supplies. There are these notebooks I like..."

Japanese kids are taught to be fairly self-sufficient, and it would be easier for him to just pick out his own things.

"Actually, this might be a weird question, but..." he frowns, concentrating, "you can help with my English?"

It's English, albeit with a strong accent, and he's mixed up the word order.

[rosae]

"All right, but I don't mind helping with anything that you need. I always really liked school shopping with Sharon," Rose smiles; she's happy to help him out. Of course, Deku does seem like an independent young man, one who knows far too much than someone his age should when it comes to things like combat and injury... Perhaps he's used to doing most things on his own. But the offer is there; she doesn't mind in the least.

"Oh— of course, I'd love to." English lessons are certainly something she can do.

"Maybe you can teach me some of your language, too. It sounds like a good idea to learn as much as possible, here." Rose smiles again, adjusting her clutch in her grasp. She really knows so little about him; their first encounter hardly allowed for such things, and this is a good opportunity to get to know the young man who so bravely saved her once before.

"Which city are you from? What's it like there?"

[wannasmash]

The image of Rose and Sharon school shopping together is pretty cute; he'll admit that.

"You wouldn't have to do much," he says, switching back to Japanese in his excitement. "I'd just try speaking to you in English, and you'd correct me. I might text you questions about English sayings too. I'm teaching a friend Japanese already, so I'll copy those notes for you."

His hands are even miming writing things down. He's a nerd, no doubt about it.

"I'm from Musutafu*, Shizuoka Prefecture. We've got highrises and a beach. That used to be a huge trash dump, but I cleaned it up. I used to go there every day to train..."

He trails off, eyes drifting away. He misses home.

*Several place names are fake and inspired by Star Wars because the creator is a fan lol.

[rosae]

Rose's smile widens as he gestures with his hands, tickled by the enthusiasm. She's definitely not used to Animated Teenage Boys, but she's very quickly growing more and more affectionate of them. More than anything, though, it's nice to see him... happy? The way a young person should be? This is certainly a far cry from what had happened in that nightmarish place before.

"Sure, and you can text me English words any time! It sounds like a lot of fun. And I need to actually learn how to use this Omni thing more."

She's genuinely looking forward to it, not only helping him out but also learning something in return.

"You cleaned it up? Wow, that's..... amazing, Deku," she praises softly, smile softening out into a gentle frown at the way he trails off. He doesn't have to voice it; it's obvious he misses his home. Of course he would.

"When it warms up around here, maybe you can train some more at the beach. It seems like it'd be a nice place when it's not all covered in snow."

[wannasmash]

cw: physical bullying

"And I'll help you with the Omni," he promises with the confidence of a tech-savvy teen who, back home, checked the hero news every day and regularly scrolled through obscure fan theories about All Might, his celebrity idol, mentor, and--though neither of them said it in words--something like a parent.

"You, um, remind me of my mom, Rose-san. She's really nice."

He wouldn't say that to just anyone. He might not say it to someone at all, even if he thought it, because it brings a painful bittersweetness to his small smile and the way he ducks his head self-consciously. He caused his mom a lot of worry, even before he got his superpower. Getting beat up at school when he was younger and coming home with bruises because he couldn't leave well enough alone... He had to be a hero. Now he's at that in-between age where he feels like he has to do something to put her worries to rest. The child comforting the mother, instead of the other way around.

[rosae]

The words catch her in a particular place — somewhere way down deep beneath her ribs, in the center of herself. It's a feeling that aches, but not unpleasantly; her eyelids flutter for a moment, as though a little dazed. It's a visible reaction, her mouth parting to release the softest exhale, the ghost of a thing.

Mom. That word's always been one that affected her in a particular way, in truth. Ever since she was so young and lost her own. Ever since she knew that more than anything else, she wanted to become a mother. Ever since she knew from the moment she laid eyes on Sharon, that she was hers.

It's the source of her deepest loss and her greatest fulfillment; Mom. Such a simple word, but to hear it voiced aloud in this context, that she reminds him of his own... it touches her in that deep place. Rose feels staggered by it, but gently, gently.

"Thank you. That makes me— very happy to hear." The words come out a little strained, but it's only because they mean a lot to her. And then, expression melting, a sorrow trickling in, one she's been carrying all this time, and now she's in the face of this sweet boy and she hates what he's known—

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. Back there, at the..." The farm. She can't say what it was aloud. He's not a little child, but she still can't say it in front of him. Still feels some need to protect him from nightmarish words, even if he'd lived that nightmare.

"I'm so sorry."

WAILS. Rose!! ;n; Just gonna tie this thread off

[wannasmash]

His heart constricts as he looks at her, eyebrows knitting. Then the pang passes as quickly as it comes, leaving a not unwelcome ache. Midoriya misses his own mother. He misses her soft hands and her smile and even the tears they cried together. Rose is an entirely different person. He knows that, but he's caught off guard by the calm in this room and his own yearning for home.

He knows what to do. It's what he's done ever since he was a small child and first learned the concept of someone else hurting for him. He wants to make that hurt disappear, even if he has to hide his own.

He smiles gently.

"It's all right."

In a way, it is what he always tries to do: protect people. So he forgets his usual reservations, as he usually does when this instinct of his is pressed on. He reaches out and gives her hand the gentlest squeeze with his, scarred as it always has been, but uninjured and whole.

"I'm fine."